The Flood Risk Management Strategy sets out our actions to help coordinate the management of flood risk in Derbyshire. It also clarifies the role of our partners (such as District / Borough Councils, water companies, Parish/Town councils). The Strategy aims to deliver strong community engagement and partnership working. Promoting and supporting personal resilience is a core element within the delivery plan of the Strategy. This enables communities to understand and manage flood risk at a local level.

The production of the strategy means that the we are now more informed and better placed to help protect the communities in Derbyshire from the threat of local flooding.

The strategy is divided into two parts:

Part One − Provides general information about flooding and flood risk. It covers who to call, and how local people can help themselves to become more resilient to the impacts of flooding.

Part Two − Focuses on the more technical details of understanding flood risk in Derbyshire. It includes an action plan detailing how we will manage future risks and access funding.

The two main documents are supported by six Local Objectives, Guidance Notes, a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and a Culvert Policy.

There are six local objectives which detail our key actions for coordinating the management of local flood risk for the people and businesses of Derbyshire. The timescales, priorities and status of each objective allows for the ease of scrutiny in delivering the objectives, making the process transparent. The actions identified within the six local objectives are also informed by estimated costs and potential funding sources to achieve the actions.

There are 24 guidance notes which support the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (LFRMS). These guidance notes are designed to be short, readable and informative documents that support daily service delivery as well as the overall LFRMS. This ensures that we adhere to the legal requirements of the Flood and Water Management Act (FWMA).

To ensure that the LFRMS contributes to the achievement of wider environmental objectives (a legal requirement under the FWMA) we have produced a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The SEA is legally required under the SEA Directive (2001) to identify the likely significant effects of the LFRMS and help to demonstrate how the LFRMS can contribute to the achievement of wider environmental objectives.

A culvert policy has been produced which sets out our approach to applications to culvert ordinary watercourses. This policy is principally intended for use by planning authorities, landowners and developers. It underpins our role to support the Environment Agency in delivering the objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000).

Please note that the strategy currently remains in draft until it is formally approved by our Cabinet Members which is likely to be in the late summer of 2015.